Jamaica to bring slavery reparations petition to King Charles
The King will be asked to refer three questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Jamaica is set to present a slavery reparations petition to King Charles
Olivia Grange, Jamaica's culture minister, will lead the delegation to the UK.
The Jamaican government will deliver a petition to King Charles on Monday concerning slavery reparations, according to culture minister Olivia Grange.
The petition will ask the King, who is Jamaica's head of state, to refer three questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the country's highest court, about the legality of the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica.
Grange said this could open the door to a "long outstanding settlement for the hundreds of years of the most horrific abuse that our African ancestors endured".
She is also due to meet officials at the British Museum to discuss the return of artefacts removed during the colonial era.
The three questions the Jamaican government wants the King to refer to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Court are: whether the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica was legal under English law, whether it violated international law, and whether Britain now has a legal obligation to provide redress.
The petition is not a request for payment.
Grange said: "Once we get the answers, or once we get a response to those questions, then the next steps will be determined."
Buckingham Palace has been working closely with the Governor General to make sure the petition is properly lodged.
A Palace spokesperson said: "His Majesty has on many occasions expressed his personal and wholehearted commitment to promoting greater understanding around the issue of slavery and finding ways to address historic wrongs for the benefit of communities today."
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Grange said: "Up to 2015, Britain was paying the slave masters, because we were being considered property.
"The question really should be: if in modern times we're still paying back the slave masters for the property that was our people, our ancestors, for property that was because of the abolition of slavery, then why shouldn't we be pursuing some remedy at this time?"
When slavery was abolished across most of the empire in 1833, the British government paid £20 million to slave owners in compensation. The loans taken out to raise the money were paid off in 2015.
Grange will also meet with British Museum officials to "advance discussions on the repatriation of artefacts" taken from Jamaica during the colonial era.
She said: "They are priceless, they are significant to the story of Jamaica and we are working to bring them home."
In 2015, David Cameron, who was prime minister at the time, ruled out making reparations for Britain's role in the historic slave trade while visiting Jamaica.
Speaking to MPs in Jamaica's parliament, Cameron said slavery was "abhorrent in all its forms". He added that he hoped they could "move on from this painful legacy and continue to build for the future".